Life has been a sea of nonstop applications, competitions, revisions, creations, responsibilities, scheduling, organizing, planning, and coffee. I shouldn't say coffee, actually, since I primarily keep myself going with a healthy routine of sleep, gym, water, and occasional bananas when pulling late nights. Buuuuuuut coffee smells better and gives the main point that everyone can relate with. It's an interesting thought when you think about it. Coffee has a certain reputation that, when used in a particular situation such as stress or morning grogginess, everyone has that mutual understanding of relating. It's taking a risk that everyone will understand what I'm implying, whether I actually drink coffee or not (and I do, just for conversations). And that ultimately is what leads into storytelling. Taking something that is familiar enough to people that you feel confident your story, what you're implying, will come across.

This past month I've been primarily focused on storytelling and presentation. There's so many things to take into consideration that it's truly incredible what can be done with a design choice, an acting decision, and best of all a collaboration of the two. A video I rediscovered last night demonstrates this idea very successfully.

Two characters, one word. So many different deliveries, but it's not only that. It's the punch at the very end. Without that punch, it'd just be a video, maybe even an annoying video. We as an audience enjoy this woman's annoyance and her husband constantly rubbing in his ideas, so seeing her get revenge is satisfying. That is just one method of successful storytelling; coming up with that punch at the end. We know she's annoyed, so what is she going to do about it? How many different ways and situations can the husband tease his wife for using paper over technology? How long should the jokes go before the audience gets bored? Ask yourself these questions when making a story. I believe this TEDtalk gives the best presentation of storytelling, and highly encourage you all to listen in. I listen to this every three months or so and continue to learn so much. Really I should listen more because there's just so much valuable information to learn from, and I think everyone should do the same. But I'll leave that decision up to you.

That is my very short, unedited ramble of a method of storytelling. I must now return to my sea of notes and plan of attacks (to-do lists). Until then, be safe, be happy, and be amazing.